31 December 2015

Before the New
Year it's always nice to remember the past year and reflect. So how
was actually my 2015? I think all in all quite busy and it went by
very quickly, but when looking back on the blog, it seems that I
managed to post a decent amount of posts as well, some more
innovative than the others. Here are some of my favourite recipes,
travels and happenings from this year and I have linked back to the
old posts. I hope that you'll like this post.

This year I found
a passion for Lebanese cooking and it started directly in January
with a Lebanese dirty rice recipe. That dish has become a
standard in my cooking, but I also tried other Lebanese recipes
throughout the year. I really like the Roasted cauliflower in tahini sauceas well. This meant that I also cooked quite a lot
vegan this year without even necessarily noticing it.

I had a longer
summer holiday in August and headed to Finland again, where
else. I had a great time visiting family and different places.
Holiday also means Back to work at some point, and I started
sharing some of my work packed lunches with you, a post series that
I'm keen to continue in the New Year. I was really happy that I
finally managed to make Koshari, a very tasty Egyptian dish.

These posts are
very recent, so I'm only going to mention one interesting one:
Chestnut and shallot tarte tatin, which makes a very good
vegetarian Christmas centrepiece. Feel free to look back at the other
December posts, if you want.

Now my friends, I
would like to wish you a very happy New Year, may all your wishes
come true in 2016! I will now withdraw myself to my English sparkling
wine from Hattingley Valley, cheers! See you next year!

28 December 2015

Yesterday I
already returned to England, but it's nice to go back to the holiday
feeling in Finland for a little while. I collected some photos from
my Christmas celebrations for you to see. The weather was
extraordinarily warm and there was only a little snow on a few days,
but it was nice not having to freeze the whole time. There were some
nice sunsets every day, which happened around 3pm, the wonderful
supermoon also appeared in the sky.

I felled a
Christmas tree with my partner from Granddad's sustainable forest. It
was stuck between three aspen and birches that can now grow more
freely after removing that spruce. It's always exciting to search for
a tree in the forest and we managed to find quite a good one again.
My nephew mainly decorated the tree and the lovely tontut made by my
mum were placed in the house again.

Obviously there
was a lot of eating and drinking involved. I made a halloumi,
pomegranate and cashew salad, small parsnip, carrot and chestnut nut
roasts, a sweet potato casserole and mini pepper, onion and cheese
tarts for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I also detected some new
drinks, a really lovely Christmas cider that I came to regret for
only having bought one bottle, great quality mulled wine and a
festive variation of the Kekkonen beer.

There is a
tradition bringing candles to graves of loved ones on Christmas Eve,
and we do this every year. The graveyard looks so nice all lit up by
hundreds of candles in the evening, a very serene scene.

I spent a little
time in Helsinki on the way back from home. On Boxing Day Helsinki
got its first cover of snow for this winter and people seemed quite
happy about it. The city was nicely decorated for the festive period.

So this was my
small break in Finland, now I'm luckily off to Oxford for a few days
and can relax further. Did you all have a lovely Christmas time?

Who is The VegHog?

A vegetarian hobby cook and urban gardener born in Finland, currently living in Denmark. I try to develop my cooking skills by making a wide variety of veggie dishes, some of them traditional and some new creations. My favourites include veggie burgers, squashes, organic and local produce, cider, spelt, rye, pizzas, pasta dishes, risottos and sea-buckthorn.
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